Fall River officials consider fining bus co. after 6-year-old left unattended on school van

Tuesday

Feb 11, 2014 at 10:47 PMFeb 12, 2014 at 10:56 AM

Michael Gagne Herald News Staff Reporter @HNMikeGagne

FALL RIVER — The School Committee's facilities and operations subcommittee will meet on Thursday to look at an incident in which a student was left behind on a school van operated by Tremblay Bus Company last month.

The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the school administration building on 417 Rock St.

Fall River Public Schools Chief Operating Officer Tom Coogan explained on Tuesday that the student had been left alone in the van parked in the company's bus lot on the morning of Jan. 15 for a period of about 45 minutes, before another bus driver discovered her.

The student left unattended was a 6-year-old girl who was being transported from New Bedford to Mary Fonseca Elementary School in a McKinney-Vento designated van, which transports homeless students. There are typically six students on the route.

The 6-year-old and her older brother were seated in the van's back seat and had fallen asleep on the ride. But her brother had apparently gotten off when the van arrived at the school, while his sister did not, Coogan said.

The van arrived at Fonseca between 8:20 and 8:30 a.m., according to Coogan. It got back to the bus lot on Myrtle Street in New Bedford at around 9 a.m. At around 9:45 a.m., another driver saw the child and brought her to the office.

Tremblay officials contacted Fonseca and made arrangements to bring the child to school, Coogan said.

He said the incident is being investigated. The van monitor allegedly looked under the seats to see if students were hiding, Coogan said, but likely did not walk to the back of the van to see if any students had fallen asleep.

Coogan said he was informed by the ownership of the New Bedford-based company that both the van's driver and the monitor responsible in the incident were immediately terminated.

"I consider Tremblay to be a good carrier," Coogan said. "This situation was acted on quickly. However, even five minutes to us is unacceptable."

Coogan said he received an assurance from Tremblay that an employee will now be required to sit in the back of the van.

School Committee Vice Chairman Mark Costa, who sits on the facilities and operations subcommittee and brought up the matter in Monday night's committee meeting, on Tuesday said, "It's absolutely unacceptable in my eyes to entrust a small child to a bus vendor and to have that child left behind."

He said the meeting will provide the subcommittee with an opportunity to hear from Tremblay ownership about "what transpired."

They will also address safety measures in place "and, ultimately, how they are going to move forward with training."

Costa referenced a similar situation that occurred in 2007. "The bus was secured in the bus lot, and then the child woke up," Costa said.

It prompted him to propose a $25,000 penalty for bus vendors should future events occur. The committee adopted that motion, and it is now written into the language of transportation vendors' contracts.

Contract language now states that the penalties "will be used by the superintendent for the sole purpose of providing safety education to elementary-age schoolchildren," including bus safety initiatives. The penalty applies to any vehicle used for contracted transportation services.

The language also states that companies that contract with the school district "will immediately terminate the employment of any driver, monitor, or staff involved in a situation where a Fall River School Department student(s) is/are left unattended by said employees regardless of the said children's age."

The committee may also determine that because it's not the first incident, the contract with Tremblay be terminated.

Following the meeting, the subcommittee will likely motion to recommend to the full committee one of those options, or none. School Committee attorney Bruce Assad declined to say if the committee has other options.

This article was corrected to reflect a change in the time of the subcommittee meeting.